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At the outset, the new venture appeared quite successful—within the space of only four years, with the support of the synod of the Russian [[OCA|Metropolia]], four [[bishop]]s were consecrated and an impressive charter was granted from said synod, titled ''An Act of the Synod of Bishops in the American Dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church''.
The charter itself—referencing the authority of a letter from Metr. Metropolitan [[Sergius I (Stragorodsky) of Moscow|Sergius]] (''[[locum tenens]]'' of the Patriarchate of Moscow) which indicated that autonomous Orthodox churches could be founded outside Russia—granted to the new church body the full name ''The Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in North America'', with ''The American Orthodox Catholic Church'' as its "short name." Additionally,
:We hereby, on this 2nd day of February (new Style) in the year 1927, charge one of our number, His Eminence the Most Reverend Aftimios, Archbishop of Brooklyn, with the full responsibility and duty of caring and providing for American Orthodoxy in the especial sense of Orthodox Catholic people born in America and primarily English-speaking or any American residents or parishes of whatever nationality or linguistic character or derivation not satisfactorily provided with proper and canonical Orthodox Catholic care, ecclesiastical authority, teaching and ministrations of the Church or who may wish to attach themselves by the properly and legally provided means to an autonomous, independent, American Orthodox Catholic Church.... a distinct, independent, and autonomous branch of the Orthodox Catholic Church... (pp. 34-35).
Signed by the entire Metropolia synod at the time—Metr. Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]], Aftimios, [[Theophilus (Pashkovsky) of San Francisco|Theophilus]], Amphilohy, [[Arseny (Chagovtsov) of Winnipeg|Arseny]], and Alexy—it further named Aftimios as the [[primate]] of the new church and elected and gave order for "the Consecration of the Very Reverend Leonid Turkevitch to be Bishop in the newly-founded [church]... as assistant to its Governing Head..." (p. 35). Fr. Leonid eventually did get consecrated to the episcopacy, though not in the new church body, and is better known as Metr. Metropolitan [[Leonty (Turkevich) of New York]], primate of the Russian Metropolia. His refusal at the time was based mainly on a "press of family obligations" which led to his insistence on "a specific stipulated salary which could not be met" (p. 36). To replace Fr. Leonid as the first assistant to Aftimios, Platon chose Archimandrite [[Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab) of Brooklyn|Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab)]], who was consecrated on [[September 11]], 1927, by Aftimios, assisted by Theophilus and Arseny.
The constitution which was drawn up for the church by the Metropolia is twenty-eight pages long and quite detailed, indicating a great deal of thought went into its drafting. Though it was dated [[December 1]] of 1927, it was not made public until the following spring. Two significant passages are noted by Fr. Serafim in his book. From Article III: "This Church is independent (autocephalous) and autonomous in its authority in the same sense and to the same extent as are the Orthodox Patriarchates of the East and the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches now existing." From Article IV: "This Church has original and primary jurisdiction in its own name and right over all Orthodox Catholic Christians of the Eastern Churches and Rite residing or visiting in the United States, and Alaska and the other territories of the United States, in Canada, Mexico, and all North America" (p. 37). Fr. Serafim then comments:
:"To anyone knowledgeable in Canon Law, these two sections just quoted are absurd. Not only did the Russian Bishops under Metr. Metropolitan Platon—whose own relationship to the Mother Church was abnormal—not only have not have any authority to set up an autocephalous Church but obviously by the logic of the 2nd Section quoted, Metr. Metropolitan Platon and his Bishops should have subordinated themselves to the new Head of the North American Church, Archbishop Aftimios... One can safely say that Metr. Metropolitan Platon (perhaps with the exception of Archbishop Aftimios) and his Bishops never had any intention of granting any such broad and unlimited authority and jurisdiction and indeed this may well have been a factor which turned Metr. Metropolitan Platon against the new Church soon after its very inception (ibid.).
==Reaction and Opposition==
The reaction against the establishment of the new church was "swift and negative," especially from the [[ROCOR|Karlovsty Synod]] (ROCOR), with whom the Metropolia had broken ties shortly before in 1926 and who viewed itself as the Metropolia's rightful canonical authority. (''See: [[ROCOR and OCA]].'')
:In letters dated the 27th of April and the 3rd of May 1927, the Synod made clear their unalterable opposition to the formation of the new Church both on the grounds that Metr. Metropolitan Platon and his Bishops had no power or authority to authorize the founding of the new Church (it must be kept in mind that for almost two years now there had been a break between Metr. Metropolitan Platon and the Exile Synod) as well as on the grounds that there was no justification or rationale for the establishment of an American Orthodox Church, at that time or at any time in the foreseeable future (p. 37).
Aftimios himself answered in June with "an equally forceful reply," denouncing the Karlovsty synod as "the uncanonical pseudo-Synod of the Outlandish Russian Orthodox Church," forbidding his clergy and faithful from having anything to do with them (ibid.). Like his estranged former associates in ROCOR, Metr. Metropolitan Platon himself almost immediately turned his back on his ecclesiastical daughter and became "increasingly unreliable in supporting the new Church," mainly because of its continual publication of "hard line" articles in the ''Orthodox Catholic Review'' (edited by Hieromonk Boris and Priest Michael) aimed at the Episcopal Church. In a letter to Aftimios, Platon wrote: "'I must attest before Your Eminence that without their (American Episcopalian) entirely disinterested and truly brotherly assistance our Church in America could not exist' and concluded his letter by asking Abp Archbishop Aftimios to order Father Boris to cease his 'steppings out' against the Protestant Episcopalians" (p. 38).
To further worsen matters, in 1928, Archbishop [[Victor (Abo-Assaley) of New York|Victor (Abo-Assaley)]] was sent to America by the [[Church of Antioch]] and then began to encourage Orthodox Arabs to come under Antiochian jurisdiction rather than that of the Russians or the new American church. He did not, however, make much headway in his endeavours. In the same year, Aftimios and his group mainly focussed on the establishment of their church's legal status and had some initial success. On [[May 26]], another bishop was consecrated, [[Sophronios (Beshara) of Los Angeles|Sophronios (Beshara)]] as bishop of Los Angeles, given responsibility "not only for the parishes who still considered themselves within the jurisdiction of the Russian Mission but also those parishes who comprise a part of the new Church and as a Missionary Bishop as well he was responsible for all territory west of the Mississippi River" (ibid.). However,
:With three Bishops the fledgling Church would appear to have achieved a solid foundation—but such was not the case. It became more and more apparent that Metr. Metropolitan Platon had changed his mind about the wisdom of attempting to establish an American Orthodox Catholic Church. Not only were some of his Episcopalian allies against the new venture but it was increasingly clear that no recognition for the new Church would be forthcoming from any Autocephalous Church. In any case it is known that Metr. Metropolitan Platon categorically forbade Archpriest Leonid Turkevitch to accept consecration in the new Church (pp. 38-39).
Early in 1929, Aftimios attempted to gain support with the Greek archbishop [[Alexander (Demoglou) of America|Alexander (Demoglou)]], the first primate of the newly formed [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America|Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America]]. The archbishop's response was that he had authority over not only all the Greek Orthodox in America but over all Orthodox Christians there. They were apparently "vexed over the fact that the Reverend Demetrius Cassis, an American of Greek parentage, had been ordained by Abp Archbishop Aftimios for the new American Church" (p. 38).
==Open Hostility==
:"His Eminence, the Most Reverend Platon (Rozhdestvensky), the Metropolitan of Khersson and Odessa, has no proper, valid, legal, or effective appointment, credentials or authority to rule the North American Archdiocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in any capacity. Such being the case it follows that from the departure of His Eminence Archbishop Alexander (Nemolovsky) that the lawful and canonical ruling headship of the Archdiocese of the Aleutian Islands and North America in the Patriarchal Russian Church has naturally been vested in the First Vicar and Senior Bishop in this Jurisdiction" therefore "the title and position of 'Metropolitan of North America and Canada' has no canonical existence in the Russian Church." It is signed by "Aftimios, First Vicar and Senior Bishop in the Archdiocese of the Aleutian Islands and North America" (p. 39).
Aftimios no doubt had in mind as he wrote such a letter that Platon had, at least in writing, already given him authority over all Orthodox Christians in North America. Fr. Serafim continues and says that Aftimios's denunciation of Platon's authority had "little or no effect" in the Russian parishes and on their clergy; "presumably they knew of the 1924 Ukaz of Patriarch Tikhon suspending Platon but specifying that he was to continue to rule the Archdiocese until such time as a Bishop was sent to relieve him" (ibid.). The announcement also had a negative effect on some members of the American Orthodox Catholic Church, as well, because two weeks after its being made public, Bp. Bishop Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab) requested [[canonical release]] from Aftimios (who reluctantly gave it) and then went over to Platon and with his direction tried to bring Syrian parishes away from Aftimios and back under the Metropolia.
Despite these troubles Aftimios nevertheless explored new opportunities and began negotiations to bring Bp. Bishop [[Theophan (Noli) of Durres|Fan (Noli)]] to the US United States from Germany to serve as a bishop in his church with jurisdiction over Albanian Orthodox Christians. (Bp. Fan Bishop Theofan eventually did come to America, but under the auspices of the Metropolia.) Aftimios continued to attempt to shore up his jurisdiction's legitimacy:
:Deserted by the Russian Bishops under Metr. Metropolitan Platon, with two rival Syrian Bishops, we find Abp Archbishop Aftimios appealing to the successor of Greek Archbishop Alexander, Archbishop Metropolitan [[Damaskinos (Papandreou) of Athens|Damaskinos ]] "as the special Representative and Exarch of the Ecumenical Throne of Constantinople" in view of the "present chaotic and helpless state of the Church of Russia" that the "Holy Great Church which you represent" could "bring about a united and disciplined Orthodoxy in America for greater and more profit to Orthodoxy than any other settlment of the Hellenic divisions in this country" (p. 40).
At nearly the same time (October of 1930), Aftimios sent a letter to his clergy indicating they were to keep their distance from Bp. Bishop [[Germanos (Shehadi) of Zahle]], who had come from Antioch (without its authorization) mainly to attempt to gather funds from Arabic Orthodox parishes but had also worked at encouraging such parishes to come under Antioch's jurisdiction. While in America, he also accepted under his [[omophorion]] one Archpriest Basil Kherbawi, "one of the most zealous and loyal priests of the Syrian Mission of the Russian jurisdiction who had been suspended by Abp Archbishop Aftimios for disloyalty" (ibid.).
==Disintegration==
Armed with new bishops at his side but probably quite discouraged over the state of his jurisdiction both internally and externally, Aftimios then made the decision which probably was the death-knell for the American Orthodox Catholic Church:
:...on the 29th of April 1933 Abp Archbishop Aftimios, in defiance of all Orthodox Tradition and Canon Law... married in a civil ceremony to a young Evangelical Syrian girl born in America—and despite all the efforts of responsible parties, he refused to resign as Archbishop of the new Church (p. 41).
Three days after Aftimios's wedding, the two new bishops of the church, Ignatius and Joseph, held a "synod meeting" by themselves, and believing that Aftimios had resigned, elected Joseph as the new "President Archbishop of the Church" with Ignatius being his designated successor. They further voiced their support of Aftimios's marriage, stating that "'inasmuch as it is merely a Canon of the European and Asiatic branches of the Holy Eastern Orthodox Church, that a Bishop should not be married, such has no valid weight on the American Church where conditions are dramatically opposite' and 'therefore the Holy North American Synod congratulates His Eminence on the moral courage in the step he has taken'" (ibid.). Fr. Serafim then observes: "This new thunderbolt was sufficient to effectively eliminate any authority the new Church might still claim to have—particularly when there were only six parishes by the summer of 1933 still adhering to the new Church" (ibid.).
Joseph later denied making the agreement with Ignatius, "but he was already a sick man (and died on the 23rd of February 1934)" (ibid.). Ignatius then got married himself in June of 1933 and began entering into relations with the representatives of the [[Living Church]] in America (the Soviet-sponsored pseudo-church), which had been competing (especially legally) with the jurisdiction of the Metropolia and the ROCOR. He eventually broke relations even with the Living Church and returned to being an ''episcopus vagans'', dying as the pastor of a small Community Church in Middle Springs, Vermont, but not before starting multiple small religious bodies, many of whom claim [[apostolic succession]] from him.
[[Image:Raphael of Brooklyn grave.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Burial place of St. Raphael of Brooklyn, Bp. Bishop Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab), and Bp. Bishop Sophronios (Beshara), [[Antiochian Village]]]]The only bishop left to the American Orthodox Catholic Church was Sophronios (Beshara), who then appealed to Platon for assistance and had also intended to contact Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab), but was deterred from doing so when Emmanuel died on [[May 29]], 1933, being buried by Platon (his gravestone reads [[May 30]]). "Bp Sophronius, despite all the setbacks, seemed to take his new post as 'President Locum Tenens of the American Holy Synod' quite seriously, and although he wished to restore relations with Metr. Metropolitan Platon, he wanted to be accepted as an equal Head of a Church" (p. 42). Platon was focussed primarily at that point on the arrival from Russia of the representative of the Patriarchate, Bp. Bishop Benjamin (Fedchenkov), who had been sent to investigate the ecclesiastical status of Orthodox America. Thus Platon "felt he could not concern himself with the crumbling new Church and so the remaining priests and parishes wandered from one authority to another or became completely independent," with the exceptions of Hieromonk Boris and Priest Michael, who were received back into the authority of Moscow and the Metropolia, respectively.
Later in 1933, Sophronios officially removed and suspended Aftimios in October and deposed Ignatius in November. He still refused to submit to Platon or the Patriarchate, however: "Despite the efforts of Bishop Benjamin and Hieromonk Boris, Bp Sophronius refused to consider being subordinate to Bishop Benjamin although he would have been allowed a considerable amount of independence and would have been permitted to continue to live on the West Coast" (ibid.).
External pressures on the movement also contributed to its demise:
:While the Russian Council of Bishops gave initial support, it was only moral support, and the first person elected to be a Hierarch of the new Church in fact turned down the nomination because it was not possible to guarantee him any kind of salary—which is indicative of another primary deficiency of the movement, no adequate financing.... [The] new Church lost its most important supporter, Metr. Metropolitan Platon, because of antagonism of the clergy initiators towards the Protestant Episcopal Church.... [some of whose authorities] resented the American Orthodox Church as being a challenge to... the "senior Orthodox Church in America" [i.e., the Episcopal Church], and that pressure was put on Metr. Metropolitan Platon to withdraw his support or the financial assistance he was receiving from the Episcopal Church... would be cut off and perhaps he would be deprived of the use, on a temporary basis, of Episcopal churches (pp. 33-34).
Nevertheless,